China’s disappeared: List of high-profile figures who have gone missing in past decade

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s footage that recently surfaced repudiating the sexual assault allegations against an ex-vice premier has caused a stir among lawmakers across several nations globally. Shuai, the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion from China had briefly vanished after penning down a lengthy post on Twitter-like platform Weibo, accusing the powerful ex-leader from the Chinese Communist Party of sexual abuse.

But later, she reappeared and labelled the claims that she made out of her official handle as “a lot of misunderstanding” causing ‘deepening concerns' on the social media, with many suspecting that she is, perhaps, under a lot of political pressure and that there have been attempts by the Chinese government to ‘silence her voice’. 

'Never made claims of sexual assault..' 

At the time the Chinese athlete had pressed the allegations on the Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of “pressuring her into having sex” despite her reluctance at his mansion a few years ago, her social media account was hit with immediate censorship. The Chinese player was also not seen in public for over 18 days after her accusation, prompting concerns about her whereabouts and safety. Making serious claims against the 75-year-old ex-member of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee, Peng had described that the sexual abuse had left her “emotionally and mentally wrecked.”

But her post was taken down abruptly in what was being speculated as a political crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party. China’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, claimed that it had no knowledge about the incident.

Acclaimed Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka demanded that China's answers where the player disappeared as she launched a campaign using hashtag #WhereisPengShuai.” Paris' Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned China to let Peng Shuai speak publicly, or face consequences. But as the tennis star resurfaced after a long mute, she completely denied making such a claim in November.

"I wanted to make this very clear: I have never claimed, or written about anyone having sexually assaulted me," she said in a video that has now caused a stir.

In a call with the International Olympic Committee held on Dec. 1, Peng Shuai "confirmed" that she was safe and well, categorically insisting that she “needs personal space.” While speculations mount about what caused her to backpaddle on such serious claims, it wouldn’t be the first time that China attempted to stifle a critic's voice. 

• In February 2020, a former Chinese real estate tycoon and the dissent of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ren Zhiqiang, was similarly gagged after he wrote an essay denouncing Chinese authorities over their mishandling of the novel COVID pandemic. The former had called the Chinese President a "clown." He disappeared from public view after making such remarks and was later arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison. 

[Credit: Twitter/@KenRoth]

• China muffed Chen Qiushi, lawyer, and citizen journalist, who at the start of the 2020 novel coronavirus pandemic went to Wuhan when it was the epicentre to investigate what would later turn into the world’s first COVID-19 epicentre. Qiushi shot videos and captured the pandemic unfolding in Wuhan giving the world the first glimpses of the illness that would go on to claim 5,386,065 lives worldwide. In February of 2020, the journalist disappeared. After 600 days he reappeared and was seen taken by the Chinese security forces. He then uploaded footage saying: "Over the past year and eight months, I have experienced a lot of things. Some of it can be talked about, some of it can't."

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• When the coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the Chinese Communist Party detained several journalists and critics that documented the initial lockdown, health authorities for the first time spotted in white Hazmat suits and residents locked up in their homes over fear of the spread of a highly contagious virus SARS-CoV-2. At that time, a journalist and whistleblower Fang Bin took to his YouTube and WeChat accounts to broadcast glaring images of Wuhan providing the "truth" of what was happening in the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. "I will use my camera to document what is really happening. I promise I won't… cover up the truth," he said in his first YouTube video. Bin’s channels went silent and he later disappeared.

[Credit: AP]

[Credit: Fang Bin/ Youtube]

• A US-based Chinese photographer, Lu Guang was detained by the Chinese security officials after he travelled in China's western Xinjiang province, where Beijing cracked down on minority community Uyghurs and exposed the human rights abuses that drew international condemnation. 

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• The first-ever Chinese president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, similarly disappeared during his four-year term and was later sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison over charges of bribery and other alleged crimes. The wife of the former Chinese Interpol chief Grace Meng called the Chinese government ‘monster’ as she blamed the CCP for his brief disappearance during a trip to China from France. She secured asylum in France in 2019 with her two sons and claimed that her husband was imprisoned on false grounds for his reformist views and anti-communist stance. 

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• Founder of the Chinese tech giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, had disappeared after he lashed out against the Chinese regulators in an October 2020 speech. Ma criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping’s communist regime. Rumours emerged that he was detained by the Chinese authorities for speaking out against the CCP. 

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• A famous Chinese actress and billionaire, Zhao Wei, has not been spotted in public since August 2021 while all her films and TV shows were removed from online streaming platforms. Her fan page on the heavily censored Chinese version of Twitter, Weibo was taken down and she was erased from the internet. Wei’s name credits were also scrapped from movies and TV programs by the Chinese Communist Party and her exact whereabouts remain unclear. Wei’s disappearance is being speculated as a part of a larger pressure campaign by the Chinese government to crack down on private entities with social influence.

[Credit: AP]